Sundanese culture copes with modernization

By Yuli Tri Suwarni

BANDUNG (JP): Children nowadays are becoming strangers to the local folk stories of Ciung Wanara, Lutung Kasarung and Sangkuriang. In fact, they are more familiar with the Japanese cartoon characters of Crayon Sinchan, Doraemon and Pokemon, England's Teletubbies or the Irish boy band Westlife.

This trend shows the strong influence of sophisticated telecommunication devices, in this case television, in the globalization era. It has always been blamed as the main reason for the decreasing recognition of local traditions among the younger generation.

West Java Governor R. Nuriana, speaking at the First International Congress of Sundanese Culture staged from Aug. 22 to Aug. 25, clearly accused TV programs, mostly featuring so- called modern culture, as influencing young people.

The conference tried to arrive at a solution on how to preserve Sundanese culture among the younger generation. Six hundred Sundanese cultural experts and observers attended the conference, staged by the Rancage Foundation. The foundation, chaired by Ajip Rosidi, received sponsorship from Japan's Toyota Foundation.

Ajip expressed concern that the culture's existence was in jeopardy. As an example, he pointed to Babaran - a mask dance performance staged by street dancers in Cirebon during the dry season -- which vanished in the 1970s.

In contrast to Bali and Yogyakarta, children in West Java rarely have district halls to practice dancing. Even artistic performances are hard to find in Bandung or other cities in the province.

Only angklung, a traditional orchestra using bamboo instruments, has performances still playing in Padasuka, Bandung. One group, Saung Angklung Mang Udjo orchestra, was founded by the late Udjo Ngalagena, an angklung maestro.

Sundanese arts were discussed in 12 essays at the conference. Other areas, including history, archeology and philology, religion, spiritual beliefs and philosophy, populist economy, the environment and architecture were discussed in 60 other papers.

Sundanese literature has been facing tough challenges due to the lack of books published in recent decades. Ajip said that 4,000 copies were published in 1931 but the figure decreased drastically in the 1990s with less than 1,000 copies.

The future of Sundanese language is also uncertain, especially with the trend of most parents rarely speaking Sundanese to their children.

Sundanese Teten Masduki, chairman of Indonesian Corruption Watch, said on the sideline of the conference that he also faced the influence of modern culture.

"The existing Sundanese language now is very aristocratic, as it has different levels that have to be applied to different social levels. I'm afraid to give the wrong impression when talking to the older generation due to my poor Sundanese. Therefore, the younger generation prefer to avoid using it.

"Besides, by speaking Sundanese, I have problems discussing political, social or economic issues which directly refer to modernity. Sundanese language needs to develop," he said.

Different view

However, a completely different opinion came from observer Robert Wessing of the Leiden University of the Netherlands. He said he didn't see Tatar Pasundan (Sundanese culture) as facing an "emergency".

"I think the substance of Sundanese culture is still crystal clear. Sundanese people are still polite and friendly and they still eat lalap (raw vegetables)," he said, with a smile.

Wessing, who started to study Sundanese in the 1970s, emphasized that change is unavoidable. For more than 30 years, as with other ethnicities in the country, the development of culture was very centralistic and homogeneous.

"Everybody was forced to speak in Indonesian. Every development program reached villages, even in remote areas, starting from providing electricity to deploying armies," Wessing said.

Wessing saw the transformation of Sundanese society as a common phenomenon. He considered the stagnant development of the culture as being due to its geographical location being close to the center of power, Jakarta. That fact meant that West Java was flooded with information while, at the same time, the local administration ignored the development of Sundanese culture.

Observer Mikihiro Moriyama of Japan said Sundanese people didn't need to worry about the cultural change.

"Japan, as well as other ethnicities or countries in the world, is also experiencing the same problem," said the Osaka University graduate.

Both observers, who spoke fluent Sundanese, said Sundanese people still have a great opportunity to transform their culture, particularly with the regional autonomy policy applied by the government.

However, they disfavored the prospect of, due to the conference, the local administration overreacting by launching preservation programs and standardization of the Sundanese culture. The most important factor in developing the culture is the role of the people, they said.

The conference agreed that the local administration needs to be active in providing funds for arts groups and Sundanese cultural centers to remain creative and innovative.